After
being impressed with the .22 Magnum Double Badger, I soon became
curious about the .22 Long Rifle version. Although I prefer the .22
Magnum over the .22 Long Rifle for survival purposes (read thisto
find out why), the .22 Long Rifle Double Badger could make a
potentially great "woods-walkin" gun for off-the-grid small game hunting, plinking, etc.

Another
distinct advantage the .22 Long Rifle Double Badger has over its .22
Magnum sibling is the ability to shoot ultra-quiet rounds such as
Winchester's.22 CB Long Matchammo andCCI Quiet .22
Long Rifle ammunition. These rounds, when fired through the Double
Badger's 19" barrel, are amazingly no louder than a pellet gun.

This
feature makes the .22 Long Rifle Double Badger a great stealth small
game hunting weapon in a survival situation, and if necessary, a great
way to control pests at your off-the-grid property without annoying
your neighbors.

Thanks to Chiappa, RMB was able to get hold of a .22 Long Rifle Double
Badger and put it through its paces out in the Colorado wilderness......

The Gun

The .22 Long Rifle version of the Chiappa Double Badger is virtually
identical to it's .22 Magnum sibling except for the difference in
caliber. Since the guns are identical, this review will only focus on
the performance of the Double Badger's .22 Long Rifle barrel. To check
out the rest of the Double Badger's features, as well as a full review
of its shotgun barrel, check out our July 2014 review of the.22 Magnum Double Badger.

The folded .22 Long Rifle/410 Double Badger, a spitting image of its 22 Magnum sibling:

(click to enlarge)

FIELD TEST

Trigger Pull

Right
out of the box, the .22 Long Rifle Double Badger's trigger pull was
unusually heavy. So I decided to drive over to Arkansas River Guns in
Poncha Springs, Colorado and have them test its trigger pull to see just HOW
heavy it was.

When
they tested it, the trigger pull weighed a surprising 9.2 pounds. By
contrast, the trigger pull on the .22 Magnum Double Badger used in the
first review weighed just 3.5 pounds. Just for a reference, I asked
Arkansas to test the the shotgun triggers of both guns. Both came in at
exactly 5 pounds even.

My
guess is that this .22 Long Rifle Double Badger had escaped factory
quality control testing, because I've pulled the trigger on at least two
other .22 Long Rifle Double Badgers (one at SHOT Show, and the other at
a local sporting goods store) and both of their triggers were much
lighter, more like the .22 Magnum Double Badger I reviewed.

Having
such a heavy trigger pull, I knew it was going to be hard to extract
maximum accuracy out of the Double Badger's .22 Long Rifle Barrel during
testing, but I gave it my best shot anyway.

ACCURACY TESTING

Using a Nikon ProStaff 3 Laser Rangefinder to measure yardage, and a Champion Portable Folding Target holder,
I went to a favorite wooded spot and tested the Double Badger's .22 Long
Rifle barrel with a variety of ammo. All results are from a seated
position on the ground, using my knee as a rest. Here are the results:

25 Yards

CCI Mini-Mag 36gr HP/Remington Yellow Jacket 33gr HP

(click any photo to enlarge)

Winchester M-22 40gr Bulk Ammo LRN/Winchester Super-Speed 37gr HP

CCI Velocitor 40gr HP/CCI Mini-Mag 40 gr LRN

Remington Golden Bullets 36gr HP (these are both 5-shot groups, but the Visi-Shot target tended to obscure the small .22 holes when they were close together)

CCI Stinger 32gr HP:

Federal 550 Round Bulk Pack 36 gr HP:

RWS 40gr Subsonic HP/Ely Sport 40gr LRN:

Even
with the heavy trigger pull, the .22 Long Rifle Double Badger showed
exellent accuracy potential as evidenced by the quarter-sized group it
produced with RWS\Dynamit Nobel 40 Grain Subsonic ammunition.
With a lighter trigger pull, like the .22 Magnum Double Badger, I think
it's possible that this gun could produce holes through holes at 25
yards using this ammo.

Among
the high velocity ammo tested, results were fairly consistent with
Winchester, Remington, and CCI ammo. The exception being any kind of
Federal ammo and CCI Stingers, which the Euro-Centric Double Badger
seemed to really dislike. In fact, I tried several types of Federal
ammo, and the groups were very poor. I was also getting flyers with some
types of otherwise accurate ammo, but I think it had more to do with
the heavy trigger pull and an occasional mountain wind gust than
with the ammo itself.

The
Double Badger also seemed to shoot to the point of aim most accurately
with Winchester ammo, followed closely by CCI Mini-Mag HPs and Remington
Yellow Jackets.

50 Yards

(click any photo to enlarge)

At 50 yards is where the trigger pull became more detrimental to the
Double Badger's accuracy. The groups opened up considerably with all
ammo, though surprisingly, I still managed to get a nice group with CCI
Mini-Mag 36gr HP. Here were the best results at 50 yards:

Remington Yellow Jacket 33gr HP/CCI Velocitor 40gr HP:

CCI Mini-Mag 40gr LRN/CCI Mini-Mag 36gr HP:

RWS Subsonic 40gr HP/Ely Sports 40gr LRN:

Ultra-Silent .22 Ammo

As
I mentioned at the beginning of this review, one of the big advantages
of having a .22 Long Rifle barrel is the ability to shoot ultra-silent
ammunition. This could come in handy in a survival situation because
you'd be able to hunt small game quietly without scaring off other
animals. It's also a feature that helps keep noise to a minimum when
doing pest control on rural property, etc.

As
I expected, both of these rounds offered their best accuracy at close
range. My guess is that the range would be extended by 5-10 yards if
this Double Badger didn't have such a heavy trigger pull on it.

CCI Quiet "Segmented" 40 Grain .22 Long Rifle

20 Yards

25 Yards

Winchester .22 CB Long Match 29gr LRN:

30 Feet/10 Yards

75 Feet/25 Yards

Game Getter

Below are two rabbits that were harvested with the Double Badger. These
were taken on private land. The landowner has a serious problem with
rabbits destroying her crops, so she allows me to hunt these problem
rabbits.

These rabbits provided good food, and their furs were harvested for bushcrafting purposes. The Double Badger proved to be an excellent game getter during my testing.

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, the heavy trigger pull on the .22 Long Rifle
Double Badger prevented me from discovering its ultimate accuracy
potential. My guess is that this gun was a fluke and escaped Chiappa's
quality control. Out of several Double Badgers I've held in both .22
Long Rifle and .22 Magnum versions, this is the first I've seen with a
heavy trigger pull. Maybe other Double Badger owners can chime in and
share their experiences?

Even with
the heavy trigger pull, the accuracy I did see was very good. I
believe that with a normal trigger pull, the .22 Long Rifle Double
Badger would be a fantastic gun for off-the-grid small game hunting or as a survival weapon for those who prefer the .22 Long Rifle over
the .22 Magnum.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

As some of you may recall in ourMora Pathfinder Knife reviewlast
May, the Pathfinder I tested chipped and rolled its edge while chopping
dead pine branches. Mora then sent a second sample for us to test, in
case the first sample had a factory defect. The second sample also
chipped/rolled it's edge.

Mora
was understandably concerned, and set about revising the grind angle
and Rockwell hardness of the edge on the Pathfinder knife. They promised
to send us the improved version as soon as it became available. This
new and revised Pathfinder arrived late last month, and after giving it a
sound thrashing, here is what I found.......

Field Test

My goal was simple-- take this new revised Pathfinder out into the backcountry, and asBob Rosswould say, "Beat the devil out of it!"

To test the edge and see how it would hold up, I found aPinyon Pinetree with a bunch of dead, knarled lower branches and started hacking. It was a veritable chop-a-thon:

(click to enlarge)

The pile of branches chopped off with the Pathfinder. I cut through a total of 14 sections of various diameters:

Despite the fact that these branches were dry and very hard, the Pathfinder's edge suffered no damage:

In fact, the Pathfinder still had enough of an edge left to feather like a champ:

Conclusion

The
engineers at Mora managed to fix not only the Pathfinder's
chipping/rolling issue, but also pulled off a rather difficult task--
create a lightweight Scandi-grind knife that handles chopping like a
survival knife, yet carves like a Mora.

Another plus is that the Pathfinder chops much better than you would think for its weight, and I attribute this to itsscandi-grind,
which bites into wood without much effort. In fact, the Pathfinder is
actually fun to chop with (especially now that I know I'm not going to
destroy the edge when doing so).

One
thing I was worried about is that in fixing the chipping/rolling issue,
Mora would have to compromise the Pathfinder's fine carving ability. Not
so! This new version carves as well as the first production
Pathfinder. Great job Mora!

Now
that the Pathfinder's edge is finally up to snuff, where does it leave
this interesting new design in the grand scheme of things? Personally, I
love it. It has the excellent carving capability of theMora Black Carbon,
yet can baton larger pieces of wood, chop limbs and boughs for
shelter/firewood duties, and at nearly 7" long, is large enough to give
you a fighting chance if attacked by a dangerous predator.

Mora, if you're listening, sell this knife with the same survival sheath that comes as an option with theMora Black CarbonBushcraft Survival knife,drop the price by $10-$20 and you'll have a smash hit, I promise.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

NOTE-- This particular issue is
special to me, since this was the same knife my dad gifted to me as a
starry-eyed kid (a Victorinox Swiss Army Camper model), and
which ultimately inspired me to do what I do today. Unfortunately, my
dad has passed on, so he's not here to see this, but I
thank him for the good times we shared in the outdoors. Cheers, Jason

Saturday, October 4, 2014

"Born into every generation are restless men with feet that will not stand still, eyes that search for distant mountains, hearts that long to go where the scene is new and the promise of adventure alive. The possibility of danger only whets the appetite." -George Laycock

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

It's been almost two and a half years since IreviewedLeatherman's
Charge AL Multi-Tool. How has the Charge held up? Brilliantly. In fact,
I like it so much that it has become my mainEDCtool. In
spite of the fact that I have a large collection of high quality
folders, I still find myself grabbing the Charge over my other blades
when headed off into the unknown. Why? Simply put, the Charge is the
best of both worlds-- a convenient one-hand opening folding knife with a
pocket clip, and a full size multi-tool, all in one.

The Leatherman Charge 2 1/2 years later: Well used but still going strong, the Charge AL has been a fantastic pocket companion:

Surprising Portability

Now don't get me wrong, when compared to a typical EDC folder, the Charge is no lightweight, weighing a rather hefty 8.3 ounces (about 3x the weight of a typical EDC folder). The key to the Charge being such an excellent EDC tool is that despite its weight, its excellent deep-carry pocket-clip makes the Charge feel almost as light as a standard EDC folder when carried in the pocket.

I've
found the various tools of the Charge to be so handy that I feel
practically naked without them. In fact, I misplaced the Charge last
year for about a week and practically went into withdrawal until I found
it! Since I spend the majority of my time living off-the-grid or field
testing on private property and in national forests, I've found the
Charge's tools to be indispensable when I don't have a larger toolbox
close by.

PLIERS/WIRE CUTTERS-The
pliers and wirecutters have been more useful than I ever imagined. I've
used them for pulling fish hooks, lifting hot pot lids during campfire
cookouts, performing emergency repairs on the Rocky Mountain Bushcraft
Mystery Van, pruning pieces from edible plants and a myriad of other
things.

FILE-The
diamond-sided and course-sided files have been used many times to file off burrs and sharp edges on everything from the corner of my aluminium backpack frame to the tip of the front sight on one of my wiilderness rifles, saving me from lots of cuts and
scrapes. The diamond-sided file has come in handy for sharpening
my axes when I don't have access to my axe sharpening stones.

SAW-The
saw has been used to make multiple shelter poles, and to harvest
pitchwood knots when my larger folding saw was unavailable.

SCREWDRIVERS-All of the screwdrivers get used on a regular basis, including making sight adjustments onwilderness survival gunsI'm testing.

SCISSORS-The
scissors proved tough enough to cut through some thick leather I used
to make a field pouch for my ceramic sharpening stone. They also come in
handy for cutting loose threads, trimming nails in the field, etc.

MAIN BLADE and SERRATED BLADE-The
154CM on the main blade still amazes me with its ease of sharpening and
edge holding. It has also proven to be extremely tough, because in
spite of some very rough use, the edge has never rolled or chipped-
great job Leatherman! The 420HC Serrated blade has been great for
cutting through cardboard, and pulled double duty as a crude potato
peeler to scrape edible roots clean.

CAN OPENER-When the 2013 Colorado Flood Disasterhit
us, the Charge came in especially handy. All the mountain roads leading
to town were blocked for over a week by boulders, running streams, and
debris, cutting me off from civilization and leaving me stranded for the
duration at a friend's mountain cabin. Most of my tools and equipment
were at another location, so the Charge was pretty much the only real
tool I had on me. When my fresh food supplies dwindled, I had to dig
into my emergency supply of canned food. The Charge's can opener was a
Godsend! I also once used the can opener as an awl to punch a new hole
in my leather belt during a backpacking trip.

CONCLUSION

What else can I say? The Charge AL's superb pocket clip, rugged
durability, and "pocket tool kit" abilities make it one of the best
EDC/portable preparedness tools on the market today. Having a
combination one-handed folder and a full-sized multi-tool with me at all
times has been more handy than I could have imagined. In fact, I didn't
know how much I'd miss the Charge's multi-tool functionality until I
misplaced it for a week and nearly freaked out!

The
only drawback is that the Charge is thicker and heavier than a typical
folding blade. Even with its excellent pocket clip (which makes it feel
light in the pocket for its weight), it's still noGerber EZ OutorSOG Flash II.
Still, the Charge AL's advantages far outweigh any of its
disadvantages, and it is without a doubt the most handy and complete EDC
tool I've ever owned.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)